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Rayde
Rayde (レイド, Reido) is one of the main four protagonists of Zenith: Across Worlds. Formerly known by the username, RinFire101 (凛ファイア101, Rin faia 101), taken from her real name, Akagawa Rin (赤川凛, Akagawa Rin), she reverted her level from 19 to 10 and changed her username after she was forced into the MMORPG, Zenith: Across Worlds. She was the acting representative for Momo's Gear Shop in the Second Annual Clash of the Shops. She picked Knight for her class choice and is currently level 19. Her primary weapon of choice is her sword, Restless Edge. Appearance Rayde is seen as a strong, teenage girl. However, out of the main four, she is also the shortest of them all, despite being the eldest. Her eyes are dark brown. With layered straight black hair colored with a single red highlight on her right side, she wears it down and it is often described as messy and in front of her eyes. When she is alone, she apparently ties her hair up, although this claim has never been proven by other characters. On her left upper arm is a black tattoo of a simple rendition of her blade. She also has a snaking black dragon's tattoo around her right hand, extending up her wrist, but it is mostly unknown to the other three since, although she does not necessarily hide it from them as a secret, it is simply always covered by her gauntlet. She does not wear any jewelry, but she has mentioned that she has a few scars on her arms, taken from her real life appearance. From chapter 5 on, she is mostly seen in her casual set of armor, white and accented with her signature red "scar-shaped markings". This is worn over dark brown leather pants, a pleated white skirt with red bordering, and armored boots. In chapter 11, she briefly wore a dark gray cloak over her armor to represent Momo's Gear Shop before the CotS Opening Ceremony. Additionally, through chapters 11 through 16, her right shoulder guard was designed with Momo's store logo, a blacksmith's hammer striking an anvil, along with her own scar-shaped markings as sparks. In chapter 18, it was revealed that she is apparently famous for a certain look she gives to others when angry, agitated, or dissatisfied. It has been titled the "Famous Rayde Death Stare". Background It is revealed that her parents often fought during her childhood. Although it seemed that she had mostly gotten used to it, the departure of her close brother to college along with the increasing degree of the fights' seriousness led her to retreat further into video games. Immersing herself into the MMO, she was enveloped and intrigued by, what she has stated, its fantasy and action elements. However, it is noted that she mostly played alone as a solo player, which may be an indication of the effect her dysfunctional family had on her. She and GlassChroma are the only players out of the four who knew one another personally in ZAW before the events of the light novels took place. The two, along with Percival, met during the Alpha and were temporarily on the same team. Personality Rather tomboyish and the most aggressive out of the four, Rayde often strikes back toward both players and NPCs. She often does not seem to care about the well-being of NPCs, as seen in Journey to Momo's, where she injures a shopkeeper with a chair, nor does she seem to care about the opinion other players hold of her. At times, she is seen as very rude, impulsive, prideful, and brash, and has been shown to easily hold grudges against other players. She is the most prone of the four to cursing. Rayde is also rather smart and observant. Her knowledge of the game is quite extensive, evident of her gameplay and experience. Cunning and mischievous, she sometimes uses it to her advantage in unconventional ways to outsmart other players. Of the four, she is arguably the most playful and childish, seen many a time pranking other players, notably Shadow, and joking around. When in the face of an unknown adversary, especially when alone, she has been shown to act mature and reserved. As she has repeated many times, Rayde is very strong in her belief that unknown opponents should not be underestimated, and this leads to her careful analyzing of the enemy's traits and moves. Being that she is attentive and mindful of changes, she was able to, for example, detect that Shadow was ill at ease after the Second Annual Clash of the Shops in CotS: The Epilogue. As this suggests, she observes self-constraint when the situation calls for it. Although it may be masked by her aggressive demeanor and frequent pranks, Rayde is strongly driven by her sense of justice. She has been shown to act protective over other, less skilled players, as seen in The MMO when she stands up for the beginner in the opening scene, and is one of two reasons (the other being the color scheme of her outfit) why she was given her first epithet, White Knight. It is clear that she genuinely cares for her friends, as evidenced in CotS: The Epilogue when she strongly presses Shadow to tell her about what had transpired during the event, later comforting and reassuring her. Although she is very concerned with the well being of her friends, there are times when she denies that items trouble her and instead changes her attitude and makes a joke. As seen in Blind, however, Rayde is actually very sensitive to subjects involving death and loss, so heavily affected that she has shown signs of something close to breaking down and crying when she is alone. This and other circumstances also reveal that she keeps many things to herself, like her encounter with DarkWind during the Second Annual Clash of the Shops or her dark thoughts about player deaths. Although she has mentioned "issues with my family", it is likely that she has not detailed the extent of the seriousness the fights in her household have reached. Equipment and Abilities Armor Being of the Knight class, her wardrobe is mostly composed of various suits of armor, each equipped with a unique special resistance. * Casual Set: This is the only exception to the above statement: it was designed to encompass a broad and balanced ratio of attack and defense, and is equal in its resistance to each element, defaulting it as the armor she uses in most situations. The one she is seen most in, it is a light custom-made suit of armor that is mostly white in color and stylized with, what are described as, red 'scar-shaped' markings. On her torso, she wears a a collared breastplate, crossed with a tilted leather belt below her waist. Her shoulders are protected by layered two-piece pauldrons. The top piece sit atop her shoulders, while the lower guards protect her upper arm. Unlike the left, the top pauldron on her right side has a neck guard attached to it. Over a black sleeve that begins at her bicep, she wears elbow-length steel gauntlets and plated elbow guards to protect the bottom half of her arms and her elbows, respectively. Below, she wears dark brown leather pants under a white skirt with red bordering. For footwear, she wears plated steel boots that end below her knees. Being that there is no armor on her legs, save for her boots, her running and movement is not as restricted as other characters criticize. Most of this outfit, like her hair and weapon, is asymmetric in design: only her right shoulder guard has a neck guard, she wears her belt slanted on her waist, and the shape of her collar is asymmetric in its design. * Armored Angel (天使の鎧, Tenshi no yoroi): This is the armor she equipped for a short period of time in New Player via her special before Winglancer drained her bar. No fight statistics or details about the look have been released, but it is assumed that it would have had a high resistance to dark magic attacks and PvP-effective abilities, considering DarkAngel's attack style. * Darkheld Armor (ダークヒーローの鎧, Dākuhīrō no yoroi): This is the only armor set Rayde has worn that is heavy enough to dramatically affect her combat performance, notably her swordplay. Her torso is protected by a solid dark gray breastplate over bronze chainmail. The shoulder guards are comprised of three layered thickset plate pauldrons and she wears a thick leather belt at her hip. Her thighs are protected by wide plates that also act as a waist guard. From the middle of her bicep down, she wears a sturdy leather sleeve over the chainmail; it is covered on the forearms, where her elbow-length gauntlets extend. Additionally, latched to her right forearm is a small dark gray shield. Due to its heavy build, Rayde's Darkheld armor offers the highest seen defense rating of armor she has equipped thus far. However, because of this, it drastically decreases her reaction time and her speed. Her knowledge of this instead leads her to morph her combat method to absorb or redirect most hits with her shield and deal damage with her sword two-handedly, in which she takes advantage of the leverage and uses it to dramatically increase the strength of her attacks. * Zhàndòujī (戦闘機, Zhàndòujī; alt.: Sentōki): In this Asian-inspired fighting outfit, Rayde sports a wide sedge hat that covers most of her face. On her torso, she wears a sleeveless but sturdy top secured by three Chinese frog buttons that is reminiscent of a Chinese Tang-Zhuang. Below, she wears loose black pants; from her knee down, as well as on the lower halves of her arms, there is white cloth that is secured by tied crisscrossed ribbons. Around her waist is a wide cloth that is secured by a belt over it, although the ends of the cloth hang loosely at her left side. Her footwear is unknown. One of the few outfits that contain no pieces of armor, Rayde has never been seen in this in the released light novels. However, a few pieces of information from the publishers have been released, emphasizing that, without closer inspection, she may be seen as dressed in a simple, Asian-inspired farmer's outfit. It is speculated that she will use this on a quest that requires a disguise, although this has not been confirmed. Clothing In a released promotional poster for the second volume, Rayde wears set of clothing, the first outfit she has been seen wearing without any pieces of armor. Fantasy styled, she wears a tan short sleeved tunic over a dark brown long sleeved shirt, secured by a leather belt on her hip. Her hands and forearms are protected by reinforced bracers. Below, she wears dark brown leather boots and pants. Hanging from her neck is a silver necklace with what looks to be a small sword pendant. Weapons Rayde makes use of three fantasy-styled weapons, each one of them equipped with their special attributes and each with their unique pros and cons. * Restless Edge (落ち着きのない刃, Ochitsuki no nai ha): This sword is Rayde's main weapon, crafted herself when she became level three. It has a white grip with a stark black diamond residing at the pommel. At the center, where the rain guard is, there located is a white four-sided diamond. At the top of the hilt, the red cross guard is asymmetrical itself, longer on one side and curved slightly outward to protect against sliding blades along the sword’s length. On the other side, the guard is indented with a dark gray curved section to match the dark gray steel blade of the sword. The blade is also not symmetric, edged to a sharp and deadly point on the blade’s right side. * Blood Scabbard (血の鞘, Chi no saya): The scabbard to Restless Edge, it is a hard and sturdy metal case, white and stylized with her red scar markings. It attaches to her belt at the waist using a strong clip. When fighting, she holds it at the top in the reverse grip and uses it as a weapon alongside her sword. Mostly defensive, it acts as her shield to deflect attacks, but she may use it to stun and follow up attacks with her sword. * Winged Thorn (翼の茨, Tsubasa no ibara): Her dagger, she uses it when she is in need of faster combos, dual wielding it in her left hand with her sword in her right. It is similar to Restless Edge in look, save for the size and the small white metal blade. When she activates her special ability, she uses it as a powerful projectile. Although she has stated that she does not like to throw it far out of fear of losing it, she has resorted to this when the situation calls for it, as seen in Clash of the Shops Part V II, when she threw it at the Shadow's Maiyakami to delay her progress in the race. Abilities Like other players, she makes the use five abilities: a melee, dash, attack, defend, and special. While observing her type, Fantasy, it also observes a theme of light and dark. * Melee - Void Breaker (虚ブレーカ, Kyo burēka): A powerful melee combo, consisting of a left elbow to the opponent, followed by a right-handed uppercut. In the novels, it is described that her arms glow a "dark purple" color after she activates the ability. * Dash - Dark Rift (暗い切れ目, Kurai kireme): A rapid shift to a point nearby, in which a before-image is left in the previous position for a limited amount of time. A certain level must be achieved by the opponent before the image is revealed to be just that. * Attack - Arcane Blades (不可解なブレード, Fukakaina burēdo): An ability that, when used, enables the user to increase his/her damage of the equipped weapon(s) for a limited time, along with a strong light emanating from the weapons, stunning nearby opponents who face the user. In the light novels, the light from her sword or dagger is of a bright white-yellow color. * Defend - Light’s Armor (光の鎧, Hikari no yoroi): A defensive ability which achieves an energy-like barrier, barring a certain amount of damage to the user when his/her weapon is in a selected position. After a certain amount of damage is dealt upon the barrier, the barrier will break. When she makes use of this in the novels, the barrier is a deep red color. * Special - Reaper’s Counter (死神のカウンター, Shinigami no kauntā): A special ability which allows the user to instantly equip into a matching set of armor that would better benefit the user at the occasion. The amount of damage inflicted by the user in the hundred hits required to fill his/her special meter is transferred onto his/her secondary weapon, and can be used as a projectile. Chronology Welcome to Zenith Arc She, known at the time as RinFire101, was first introduced after she overheard an argument between two players in The MMO, challenging the female player, DarkAngel, to a duel. When she logs off to plan her strategy, she encounters a notification about a virus that has affected the game, but continues to log back in anyway. When she attempts to, however, she somehow blacks out and wakes to a blank void where she is prompted to select a new avatar with the same attributes and items, but with a new username; she is also required to revert her level, reluctantly forfeiting her level 19 for level 10. Blacking out once more, she wakes up to find herself on Mount Zenith, within the game itself. After acquainting herself with the world and the controls, she engages DarkAngel in their scheduled duel. As their battle approaches its end, however, the Beast of the area, Winglancer, arrives and effortlessly kills her opponent and engages her in battle. After a few complications, she eventually wins against the creature, but when she walks away from the scene, Shadow emerges from the mountain caves and drags her away. After they acquaint in The Town and share similar stories about their entrance into the game, Rayde decides to add her as a friend. She leaves briefly to the market to customize her armor at Momo's Gear Shop with assistance from the owner, encountering trouble with the dense crowds, also meeting another player named Draken in the process. When she returns to Shadow, they leave on their first quest together. When they are tasked with defeating a Corrupted, they exchange attacks and support to one another automatically and rhythmically, the experience revealing how well they fight together, strengthening their friendship in the process. The two attempt to sleep in a deserted village in the forest, perturbed by eerie noises. When they wake, they enter another quest that explores the reason why the village is empty and easily move on to beat a low leveled NPC, Blaze. As they move on, Rayde and Shadow receive a notification about an event that will take place in The Town, and they separate, agreeing to meet up in the morning. Clash of the Shops Arc On the morning of the Second Annual Clash of the Shops, she meets up with Shadow in the town square and they discuss their respective sponsors; she represents Momo's Gear Shop. When she is the first introduced of the representatives, she steps up to her platform confidently and happily. When Shadow is introduced and receives a quieter response, self conscious, Rayde looks at her, concerned. Later, when they move on to the starting line, Rayde abruptly stops in the front of the line of walking representatives as a prank, causing those behind her to bump into one another. Like the other representatives, Rayde is trapped in the purple fog when the gun fires. After she is knocked over and kicked by another representative, they are finally released and she is the first one to run into the route, gaining a substantial lead. She lengthens this lead when she encounters the first objective, skillfully weaving through the market with her past experience. In the second objective, she beats the entire Silver Hawk Guild efficiently and rapidly, leaving all of them on the ground. She moves on to the third objective, but is easily discovered by the uroko-jōmonos. She fights them and then flees from the objective. In the fourth objective, she finally loses her whole lead, puzzled by the riddle. She receives the second notification of an eliminated player, sadly and solemnly reacting; when Shadow notices and is also affected, realizing that Rayde has always been wary of the implications of a player death, she smiles sadly to her in comfort. Later, after she shares a few jokes with the Coalition, especially with Winter, she eventually solves the riddle after she is passed by Draken and a few others. On her way to the fifth objective, she delays Reyn, Io, LavaBearer, and Menace and quickly defeats Ryano in the challenge. She arrives to Glacier's Hollow and explores its caves, receiving two more notifications about player deaths. She meets the first with uncertainty, attempting to cast off the implications due to the lack of information as to whether or not players died in reality, but is unable to contain her emotions with the second. Shaking it off, she continues until she witnesses DarkWind indirectly kill Naiad, another representative, realizing that the recent player deaths had been because of him. They face each other, about to fight. Although her progress in the race is briefly mentioned by the commentators, she is not seen again until she destroys Shadow's Maiyakami. They run towards the finish, and, with Guradel and Draken caught up, the four are tied for first place. When they approach the town square, she is hit in the abdomen by the blob-like Tangible Reflection and is wrenched from her momentum, coughing up blood when she is knocked onto her back. She gets up quickly, saying she is unhurt, and she and Shadow cut off the Reflection's tentacle. She leads the other three into the square after they realize it is an illusion cast by Ryano and she solemnly takes second place. After talking with Momo, it ends with her sitting with Draken, talking with him. In the epilogue, it is revealed that she and Shadow left the event during the closing ceremony when the names of the eliminated players were being announced. As they walk away, she confronts Shadow about what had transpired during the event, angrily pressing her when she begins to assume that Shadow did not trust her enough to tell her. She eventually softens and, after she is informed, she comforts her. As they continue along, they are passed by two groups of players. Having heard of them, the groups both whisper about the two after they pass, but the second group, upon seeing her past Shadow, stare at her. Asked why, Rayde tells Shadow she does not know and says that she beat a yokeri in the Hollow. They both continue to walk through the forest. Relationships Shadow Rayde shares a close friendship with Shadow. Akin to her playfulness, she often uses Shadow over others as a victim for her pranks and occasionally makes fun of her for trivial things. She also uses a degree of violence against her, mostly to accomplish simple tasks such as her kicking Shadow awake in The Reason in Silence. However, considering this, they both seem to genuinely enjoy the other's company. Throughout a scene, they normally share a multitude of jokes, most of which usually concern items that are genuinely not humorous in nature. Additionally, the two share a sense of care over the other. In battle, both Rayde and Shadow are quick to share their healing and restoration potions. When they are in times of stress or tension, if one notices that the other is troubled, she will attempt to comfort her to the best of her ability. However, while they may care for each other, this leads to a secrecy between them on Rayde's part, clear in CotS, The Epilogue. Reserving to herself her haunting misgivings about player deaths and her actions in Glacier's Hollow, she deals with the pain by herself in order to prevent further worry to Shadow. Draken Ever since their first meeting in the Market in Journey to Momo's, Draken and Rayde have remained close friends. They get along with one another very well and engage in conversation whenever they see one another. While Draken may not engage in many pranks or use sarcasm in comparison to Rayde, he often does not mind her pranks or jokes, and shares a few laughs with her. In A Memory Ago, Rayde runs off to join Draken at the bakery (although it is closed when she arrives); later, after they are drenched in rain, Draken begins to worry that she's getting sick after she begins to sneeze several times. In Willow and Water, Rayde picks to fight him for his initiation duel into Zenith's Guardians, and while she seems to have the upper hand before the battle is interrupted, they still joke with one another while they are fighting. He only allows Rayde to call him by the nickname she gave him upon their first meeting: "Dragon". Rayde only refers to him with this nickname. GlassChroma Although the way they first met is not specific, Rayde and GlassChroma first encountered one another in the alpha run of ZAW. Along with Percival and a few unnamed others, she and Glass partnered on the same team for a time. Apparently, she has commented, of the brothers, Rayde favored Percival more than Glass, as the latter was still learning the controls when they began playing the game. Afterwards, their team was disbanded and the members split. While it is unknown why this happened, after, she kept in some amount of contact with him, as he was the only person from her adventures before the events of Zenith: Across Worlds to be on her Friend's List. After the Second Annual Clash of the Shops, they are finally reunited and since, have remained close friends after forming a guild together with their friends. They often joke with one another, both in safe-zones and on potentially deadly battlefields, as well as care for the other's well-being. While Glass has consented to calling her by her current username, Rayde, she only refers to him as "Zeo", a reference to his old username, ZeoTamer. Quotes * "Sometimes I wish this video game was real... just so I can escape from this misery... Stupid parents" (thoughts). * "Dra... Dragon... Yeah, I know. I'm not deaf... But I'm calling you Dragon" (to Draken). * "Off to another adventure. Life is never boring around here, huh?" (to Shadow) * "Don't assume that you could easily take me out. Sizing up another player's skill based upon only their level would be a grave mistake... on your part..." (to the Coalition). * "Is that it? You don’t trust me anymore? Did all that time you spent in the event pull you away? Or... or did... did you never?” (to Shadow) * “I can see... that you’re different, there’s something different in your expression, in your thoughts... And, you said it was ‘nothing’ when I asked... Plus... I can see that... you really want to leave this place, Shadow.” * “Don’t blame yourself... don’t support the weight by yourself... because, in the end, you’ll find out that others had been piling more when you had just thought to yourself that your arms were tired...” (to Shadow). * "You know, such things like problems... they're things only the living possess" (to Shadow) * "Rayde, the Knight of the Dawn, at your f*ckin' service, b*tches." * "Order or Chaos?" (to Percival) * "Oh, that little bi― never mind..." Trivia * In real life, her given name in kanji (凛, Rin) means "severe", or "cold". Her surname (赤川, Akagawa) means "red river". * Contrary to what many characters see her as, Rayde actually stands at an average height for her age. Those closest to her in height, such as Shadow, only stand from one to three centimeters taller than her. However, although this disparage may be small, it not only declares her as the shortest out of the main and side four, but in fact all the characters that "we care about", as said in a short manga panel. * Her favorite color, and the color she is represented by, is red. * Her favorite fruits to eat are cherries, but she prefers mango or pineapple flavoring for ice cream, candy, etc.. * She is very sensitive to sour candies and fruits, and usually tries to wash off the sour coatings of candies before eating them. * Her character song is track number two in the compilation soundtrack, Root of the King by TETRA-FANG. * Her first epithet, White Knight, is a commonly referred to title that is used in accordance with a "rescuing hero". * When she is agitated, she has a unique facial expression that she shows, and it has apparently become so famous in the game among players to be named "The Famous Rayde Death Stare". Introduced in chapter 17, it is likely that it became known or titled after her appearance in the Clash of the Shops. * In the Second Annual Clash of the Shops, she is the third worst in the fourth objective; she spent forty-six minutes and thirty seconds in her attempt to deduce the riddle. She later places second in the competition and earns a silver medal. * She says that the only fallback of her class is that she has to spend a lot of her Carrying Capacity on her armor. * Before her entrance into the game, she used an old XboxOne controller paired with her laptop to play ZAW. * In order to depict correctly how Rayde's armor would look, Sakurai-san illustrated a first draft of Rayde's casual set and then passed it on to Ogami Kenichi so he could include a description of it in a chapter. Because it was not clear, he instead outfitted Rayde in a white collared leather shirt. Notified of the error but too late to revise, Ogami-san altered the plot. Therefore, Rayde, wore the leather shirt until she attained her default breastplate (which was silver) after her fight with Winglancer. However, because Ogami-san had outfitted her in a silver rather than a white and red armor piece, he had to then add to the plot (as seen in Add Them to the List) Rayde's customization of her armor. The armor from then forth was correct, and the quick add-in for her customization created later inspiration for Sakurai-san's Journey to Momo's. * She has said that her worst fear is of spiders. It is so strong a phobia that she cannot look at pictures of the creatures. * Unique to her fighting style, she holds her scabbard backwards in her left hand as a defensive weapon. * The poem, ''The Rustling Wind'', is from her perspective during the epilogue, and is briefly present as well for the fifth stanza in Shadow's version, To Each One's Own, Sorrow. * In the second objective of the Second Annual Clash of the Shops, it is speculated that Rayde was able to defeat the Silver Hawk Guild so effortlessly because they were already weakened after their encounter with DarkWind. This is evidenced by their learning only after she left that they could heal between representative battles. It is confirmed as well that her winning was also because the guild members underestimated her, which is what their following remarks suggest. * One of her most beloved things she likes to do is walk outside when it is cold and raining. * She has made it clear on multiple occasions that she does not like to hug other people, going so far as to ignore or punch away outstretched arms. In Willowdrop's Curse, after her fight with the kumos, she harshly tells Shadow to "Get the f*ck off" after the latter embraced her. The reason for this dislike is unknown. This rule of hers has only been violated once so far, when she comforted Shadow in the COTS Epilogue and in the same scene's portrayal in her poem, The Rustling Wind, both of which state the rarity of such an act ("And, one of the few times she's ever accepted it, much less initiated it, she hugged her"; "... I stepped in front of her./ Unusually to embrace the loneliness, the sorrow, the clouds within the shadow..."). * In the character song she shares with Shadow in the compilation soundtrack, BEAUTIFUL≑SENTENCE, she is the first of the two voices to sing. She later sings second in turn for the second verse and prechorus. * When she refers to ZAW, she says either "zaw" or "Z-A-2-U" because "Z-A-W takes too long". * Evidence of her fight with DarkWind can be found subtlety in Flower, when Shadow arrives to transitional cave before the beast caverns. She sees "deep blade scars" along the walls, "burn marks" traced along the floor, and footsteps. * Although there seems to be only good relations between Rayde, Glass, and Percival, the reason for their breaking up of their alpha team is still unknown, as well as why Rayde had only Glass as a friend. 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